First of all, it's highly recommended that you have a Sunny Day user on your team if you're using this set. Otherwise, you're running the risk of having Blaziken's whole strategy ruined by Tyranitar, Hippowdon, and Abomasnow. Kill them off, then clear the skies with Sunny Day. Now that's out of the way, onto the set itself. Like all Reversal sets, the strategy is to get down to low HP and sweep with a full powered Reversal. Substitute vs. Endure is partly down to personal preference. Substitute gives Blaziken some protection against status moves and attacks in general. Endure, on the other hand, almost guarantees you can get an Attack boost from Swords Dance. Swords Dance on the switch, and if they send in something faster you can Endure the hit and proceed to sweep. It is also the better choice if they use an attack you know you can survive. Fire Punch and Blaze Kick work great with Blaze activated and help to cover Ghosts, Psychics, and some Flying-types. Don't be tempted to use Shadow Claw here; Blazed Fire Punch does more to every Ghost in the game barring Giratina and more to most Psychics, too. The likes of Starmie and Slowbro actually take more damage from a full powered Reversal than they do from Shadow Claw. Blaze Kick provides a little more power than Fire Punch, but its less than perfect accuracy may mean a costly miss. This is still capable of ripping through teams, although it requires weather support, as was already mentioned. The new priority moves available in DP hinder it somewhat, as do random Choice Scarf wielding opponents (especially Garchomp).
Here's a variation on the Reversal set. This plays somewhat like a Choice Bander: you get in, predict a switch, and use Focus Punch or Overheat to do masses of damage. When Blaziken is worn down, you can Endure the hit and sweep with Reversal. Substitute gives him some protection to Focus Punch behind, but Endure is still a good choice for the reasons listed in the first set.
Swords Dance up and attempt a sweep, and pass the Attack boost to a teammate when a threat appears. This set packs a lot of power for attacking, and passing a Swords Dance could easily open up a sweep for a Dragon Dancer like Salamence or Gyarados. However, Blaziken's Speed is what lets it down on both fronts. If your opponent is relying on slower, bulkier Pokémon to beat Blaziken, then you can get off a Baton Pass quite easily, but if Salamence or Garchomp come in, Blaziken is forced to switch out, losing all boosts in the process. Stone Edge and Life Orb can replace Baton Pass and Leftovers for greater type coverage and power, but that just turns Blaziken into a slower version of Infernape. Still, if you have a phobia of apes, or an unhealthy fetish for chickens, the Stone Edge variant is a decent option.
Agility is a new addition to Blaziken's movepool, and a very welcome one, given his rather mediocre Speed. Agility makes him faster than those damn Dragons who tend to switch into Blaziken with little fear, so go ahead and bring them down with Hidden Power Ice. Grass is a good alternative, if you're concerned about Swampert coming in a Roaring away your Speed boost. If you're met with something that can't be taken care of with Fire Blast or Hidden Power, pass your Speed boosts to a counter.
More fun with Agility, but instead of supporting slower team mates with Baton Pass, this Blaziken is attempting a sweep on its own. Agility makes a big difference to Blaziken's sweeping potential, since it can now outspeed and OHKO the likes of Azelf, Gengar, and Salamence who would all stand in the way of the Swords Dancer. Brick Break can be used over Sky Uppercut if having two attacks with less than perfect accuracy bothers you. Hidden Power Ice OHKOs all Dragons, barring Kingdra or those with a Yache Berry. ThunderPunch hits Water-types, especially Gyarados and can OHKO some Starmie with a little help from Stealth Rock. 128 (or 132 if you use HP Ice) EVs are enough to outrun Adamant Choice Scarf Garchomp after an Agility, which is the recommended minimum.
A Choice Scarf set is a must for anything with an Attack stat and movepool this good, and a Speed stat this average. The first three attacks offer great type coverage, and the last slot is open to personal preference. ThunderPunch takes out Gyarados and hurts Starmie and Slowbro too. Earthquake doesn't offer particularly good type coverage, but it will get rid of Infernape, something Blaziken and his legion of fanboys must be wishing they could do permanently.
This remedies some of the problems the physical Choice Scarf set has, and makes Blaziken a more effective "Revenge Killer". With a mixed set, Blaziken can take care of some physical walls and slay Dragons more effectively. For example, Overheat can do up to 80% to Hippowdon, while even a max Attack Flare Blitz only does 36% at best. Overheat is recommended over Fire Blast for the extra power and since this Blaziken is played as a hit and run Pokemon, the Special Attack drop won't matter as much. If you are concerned about lowering Blaziken's Special Attack, switch to Fire Blast as it does more damage over two turns. Hidden Power Ice will OHKO most Garchomp, Salamence (if they aren't holding Yache Berry) and Gliscor. Sky Uppercut can also 2HKO max HP and max Defense Bold Blissey, and outspeed and OHKO Dragon Dance Tyranitar. Thunderpunch will 2HKO the standard Bulky Gyarados after Stealth Rock damage, even with Intimidate factored in. A OHKO is likely against the more offensively EVed versions of Gyarados, with or without Stealth Rock support. The EVs give you 295 Attack, 340 Special Attack, and 375 Speed. With 375 Speed, you can outspeed everything from Garchomp, Azelf, and Gengar, all the way up to max Speed Alakazam and Dugtrio. You're also ahead of some Weavile, who only use 374 Speed. Max Speed versions are still faster though.
You lose your Speed boost by ditching Choice Scarf, but this set packs a lot more power than the speedier alternatives. Focus Punch does tremendous amounts of damage with a Choice Band, but ThunderPunch is a great option for hammering Gyarados and Starmie. Brave Bird doesn't offer much in the way of type coverage, besides hitting Fire resistant Fighting-types like Hariyama and Poliwrath harder than any of Blaziken's other attacks. However, as many of Blaziken's common switch-ins are neutral to Flying, it will do respectable damage to most of them. Other OptionsBulk Up is available for Baton Passing and can help to survive the occasional weaker physical attack. Swords Dance is usually superior for independent sets, but Bulk Up has a bit more value if Blaziken is part of a Baton Pass chain. Hidden Power Grass is a nasty surprise for Swampert. Will-O-Wisp can screw over physical attackers who switch into Blaziken. You can use a berry on the Baton Passing sets (Liechi or Petaya for Agility, Salac for Swords Dance, Starf works on either). If you switch into a weak attack, the berry can activate and you can use your stat boosting move on a switch, which can either help you sweep, or give you the chance to pass an extra boost to a teammate. EVsReversal sets need max Speed to be faster than as many Pokémon as possible after a Salac Berry boost. With a Jolly nature, Blaziken is faster than any unboosted Pokémon but Jolly Ninjask, as well as several Choice Scarf Pokémon, including Adamant Heracross and Modest Porygon-Z. Most Scarf Garchomp and Gengar still outrun him though. Max Attack and put the remaining anywhere but HP if you're using Substitute so your HP isn't divisible by four. Naive or Rash nature if you're using Overheat. For the Swords Dance set, Jolly and max Speed and Attack are recommended. Jolly hits 284, so you will outrun Adamant Heracross, Adamant/Modest Lucario, and at least tie with Mamoswine and Medicham. When using Choice Scarf, a Speed boosting nature is arguably the best option. Max Speed will only allow you to hit 388 Speed, so you fail to outrun Aerodactyl, Crobat, Jolteon, and many of the common Choice Scarf users, like Heracross. 384 is the highest Speed you need (to outrun Weavile), so you can drop a few EVs into HP. This isn't really helpful enough to make it a necessity, although it does make recoil from Flare Blitz and Brave Bird slightly less painful. For Choice Band, always max Attack. Jolly nature is recommended, although Adamant is acceptable if you want the extra power. If you want to use a few more HP EVs to cushion the blow from Flare Blitz, you can set your Speed at 244 (Adamant, 192 EVs) to beat Jolly Tyranitar (and Adamant Breloom by a few points), 270 (Jolly, 200 EVs) for Adamant Heracross or 280 (Jolly, 236 EVs) for Modest/Adamant Lucario and Modest Porygon-Z. OpinionBlaziken didn't get any worse from the previous generation—on the contrary, it got some significant improvements. Its usefulness in competitive battles is reduced not by its stats or his movepool, but by the addition of Infernape. Infernape is essentially Blaziken with a lot more Speed, which is the one thing that really holds Blaziken back. If you're using Blaziken over Infernape, then use the options his fellow Fire / Fighting type doesn't have, namely Reversal, Baton Pass, or Agility. It seems odd to use the word "outclassed" when referring to a powerful Pokémon such as Blaziken, but when compared to Infernape, you'll see that it is certainly a valid description. CountersSalamence and Gyarados are both good counters, with Intimidate and resistances to both STAB moves. Both need to watch out for Stone Edge, and Gyarados really hates ThunderPunch. Beware of Hidden Power Ice if you are using Salamence. Choice Banded Sky Uppercut is a potential 2HKO, but other than that Swampert is a good counter. Other Ground-types like Donphan and Hippowdon are effective at stopping the physical attacks, but Fire Blasts can 2HKO them both. Water-types like Suicune, Slowbro and Milotic can handle him quite well. Choice Banded ThunderPunches can take their toll though (it has a good chance of OHKOing most Starmie and will 2HKO Milotic). Roar Suicune is a great choice to send in against Baton Pass sets. |
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